Tertullian — Against Marcion 43

It was very meet that the man who buried the Lord should thus be noticed in prophecy , and thenceforth be blessed; since prophecy does not omit the ( pious ) office of the women who resorted before day-break to the sepulchre with the spices which they had prepared. Luke 24:1 For of this incident it is said by Hosea: To seek my face they will watch till day-light, saying unto me, Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He has taken away, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up; after two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up.

For who can refuse to believe that these words often revolved in the thought of those women between the sorrow of that desertion with which at present they seemed to themselves to have been smitten by the Lord, and the hope of the resurrection itself, by which they rightly supposed that all would be restored to them? But when they found not the body (of the Lord Jesus), Luke 24:3 His sepulture was removed from the midst of them, according to the prophecy of Isaiah. Two angels however, appeared there. Luke 24:4 For just so many honorary companions were required by the word of God , which usually prescribes two witnesses .

Moreover, the women , returning from the sepulchre, and from this vision of the angels , were foreseen by Isaiah , when he says, Come, you women , who return from the vision; that is, come, to report the resurrection of the Lord. It was well, however, that the unbelief of the disciples was so persistent, in order that to the last we might consistently maintain that Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples as none other than the Christ of the prophets . For as two of them were taking a walk, and when the Lord had joined their company, without its appearing that it was He, and while He dissembled His knowledge of what had just taken place, Luke 24:13-19 they say: But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel , Luke 24:21 — meaning their own, that is, the Creator's Christ.

So far had He been from declaring Himself to them as another Christ! They could not, however, deem Him to be the Christ of the Creator; nor, if He was so deemed by them, could He have tolerated this opinion concerning Himself, unless He were really He whom He was supposed to be. Otherwise He would actually be the author of error , and the prevaricator of truth , contrary to the character of the good God. But at no time even after His resurrection did He reveal Himself to them as any other than what, on their own showing, they had always thought Him to be. He pointedly reproached them: O fools, and slow of heart in not believing that which He spoke unto you. Luke 24:25 By saying this, He proves that He does not belong to the rival god, but to the same God.